Refuse containers

ABSTRACT

A refuse container comprising a hollow body with an upper access opening closed by a displaceable cover, and a bag suspension frame, carried by a body wall, said wall movable between a closed position in which the frame is positioned below an access opening, and an open position in which the frame is exposed for bag replacement. The frame has a movable frame element projecting away from the wall. The body has internal surfaces for deflecting the frame element upwardly during closing movement and downwardly during opening movement of the body wall.

This invention relates to refuse containers, e.g. litter bins orhousehold dustbins.

It is known to line such a container with a disposable bag which is heldopen by stretching its mouth over an upper edge of the container. Thiscan be difficult to achieve manually and may result in an untidyappearance of the bin if the overlap is too great. The bag is also proneto detachment from the container edge resulting in penetration of refusebetween the bag and the container.

It is also known to suspend the bag freely from a fixed frame whichprovides an edge over which the mouth of the bag is turned. In this caseslippage of the bag may result in spillage of refuse.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a refuse containerin which the aforementioned disadvantages are obviated or mitigated.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided arefuse container comprising a hollow body with an upper access openingclosed by a displaceable cover, and a bag suspension frame carried by abody wall movable between a closed position in which the frame ispositioned below the access opening and an open position in which theframe is exposed for bag replacement, said frame having a movable frameelement projecting away from the wall and the body having internalsurfaces for deflecting said frame element upwardly during closingmovement and downwardly during opening movement of the wall.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provideda refuse container comprising a supporting frame including frameelements engageable with the mouth of a disposable bag and movablerelatively apart into a stable over-centre position in which the bagmouth is held open in use.

The invention will now be further described by way of example only withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly cut-away side view of a refuse container with arefuse bag held in position by one embodiment of supporting frame inaccordance with the invention,

FIG. 1A is a sectional view on line 1A--1A of FIG. 2.

FIG. 1B is a side view of the supporting frame.

FIG. 2 is a corresponding plan view:

FIG. 2A is a detail showing a rivet around which the supporting framepivots.

FIG. 2B further illustrates the supporting frame and its capability topivot.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating the mode of operation of thesupporting frame;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view from the front and one side of a swing-toprefuse container with an opening front carrying a second embodiment ofsupporting frame in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 5A is a partial side view of the swing top refuse container of FIG.5, and

FIG. 6 is a scrap view from the front and other side of FIG. 5 lookingupwardly into the body of the container.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, a refuse container 1 (of the kindintended to be mounted on a street cleaners' hand cart adjacent a likecontainer) is of generally square shape in plan with a downwardlytapering body 2 integrally moulded in synthetic plastics material. Theopen top of the container 1 is closed by a lid (not shown) resting onthe upper edge 3. Side handles 4 are provided at opposite sides of thecontainer but form no part of the present invention. Slightly below theedge 3 is an integrally moulded internal ledge 5 on which rests asupporting frame 6 indicated in position in chain-dot line in FIGS. 1and 2 and more clearly illustrated in the insets to those Figures. Theedge 3 and ledge 5 may have their bag-contacting surfaces (see below)made of a resilient or high friction material. The supporting frame 6 isof generally square shape conforming to, but slightly smaller than, theedge 3. As seen in the right-hand inset to FIG. 1 there is a slightclearance between the frame 6 and the edge 3. The frame 6 is made in twosymmetrical halves of galvanised steel which are connected to each otherand to the edge 3 by rivets 7 as more clearly shown in the lower insetto FIG. 2 which shows the overlapping ends of the halves of the frame 6.The rivets 7 permit relative pivotal movement of the halves of the frame6 between the fully open position illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 andthe collapsed or folded position shown in FIG. 3. In the fully openposition the frame 6 halves are in a stable over-centre positionrelative to the pivot axis defined by the rivets 7, such arrangementtending to lock the frame 6 into the open position.

In use, with the container 1 empty, the supporting frame 6 is used tosuspend a refuse bag 8 from the edge 3 of the container 1. The refusebag 8 is of the kind commonly employed in such containers being made ofsynthetic plastics material in a shape generally conforming to theinterior of the container and having an openable mouth which in aconventional arrangement would be stretched ever the edge 3. In thepresent case, however, the bag 8 is introduced into the container 1through the frame 6 and the mouth of the bag 8 is then positioned overthe frame 6 while the latter is in the upwardly folded conditionillustrated in FIG. 3. The frame 6 is then returned to its fully openposition illustrated in FIG. 4 so as to trap the upper edge of the bag 8between the frame 6 and the container edge 3 and ledge 5 thereby holdingthe bag 8 in the suspended position (see particularly the inset to theright of FIG. 1). Not only is the bag 8 more securely attached to thecontainer but there is no unsightly protrusion of the bag from thecontainer and in fact the bag cannot be seen when the lid is inposition. The frame positions illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 arediagrammatically represented at the top of FIG. 1. The line III--IIIindicates the folded condition and the line IV--IV the fully openposition of the frame 6. It will be appreciated that movement betweenthe two positions involves an over-centre toggle action from anunder-centre position III--III through a centre position indicated byline I--I and into a stable over-centre position IV--IV which is shownsomewhat exaggerated in the drawing.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a refuse container 10 has an accessopening covered by a swing lid 11 pivoted adjacent its upper edge 12.Below the swing lid 11 the container 10 has a generally rectangular body13 in which a refuse bag (not shown) is suspended by a supporting frame14 provided at the top of a front panel 15 which is hinged at its bottomedge so as to be movable from the illustrated open position (in which itis restrained by removable lateral restraints 22 shown in chain-dotline) into a closed position in which the panel 15 forms the front wallof the container body 13.

The supporting frame 14 is constituted partly by a U-shaped metalelement 16 (similar to one of the halves of the supporting frame 6 ofthe first embodiment) which is pivoted at its free ends to lugs 17integral with side cheeks 18 of the front panel 15. The top edges of theside cheeks 18 slope downwardly and rearwardly when the panel 15 isupright (see the inset to FIG. 5). In the open position of the panel 15the metal frame element 16 rests on the lower part of these edges(position a of the inset to FIG. 5). In this position the frame element16 is in a stable over-centre position corresponding to position IV--IVin FIG. 1. The upper part of each edge is provided with a notch 19. Whenfitting a refuse bag the mouth of the bag at the front thereof ispositioned in these notches 19 with the metal frame 16 folded upwardlyinto the under-centre position b in the inset of FIG. 5. When the metalframe 16 is then toggled back to the position a the mouth of the bag isstretched open. Furthermore, the frame 16 in position a is inclinedrearwardly and downwardly parallel to the top edge of the side cheers 18so as to clear the top edge 20 of the body opening which is closed bythe panel 15. As the panel 15 is closed the leading edge of the frame 16engages ramps 21 suitably positioned internally of the side walls of thebody 13 so as to deflect the frame element 16 into the under-centreposition c in the inset of FIG. 5 thereby maximising the height of thebag relative to the available space within the body 13. Movement of theframe element 16 above the position c, with consequent relaxation andpossible detachment of the suspended bag, is prevented by the lower edgeof an internal surface 23 which also provides a guide surface fordirecting refuse from the access opening into the bag. During openingmovement of the panel 15 the upper edge 24 of the body opening deflectsthe frame element 16 back into the stable over-centre position a.

The engagement of the mouth of the bag with the frame 16 is similar tothat described in the first embodiment i.e. the bag is suspended withinthe frame element 16 and the upper edge of the bag overlaps the frame 16so as to be positioned and possibly trapped between the frame 16 and theadjacent parts of the body 13 in use. For bag removal the front panel 15is tilted open into the illustrated position when the bag can easily belifted out, if necessary by pivoting the frame element 16 into theillustrated position b. In order to facilitate cleaning of the body 13the bottom hinges of the panel 15 are so designed that after removingthe lateral restraints 22 the panel 15 may be lifted out of engagementwith the body 13 so as to provide a clear front opening of the body 13.

It will be appreciated that modifications may be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention. For example, in the first embodimentthe container may be of different shape, e.g. of circular section as inthe case of many household dustbins. Although the toggle action is anessential feature of the first embodiment it may be omitted in thesecond embodiment if the bag is not stretched over the suspension frameto such an extent that the tension in the bag tends to close the frame.In this case the position a as well as the position c (FIG. 5) may beunder-centre positions.

We claim:
 1. A refuse container comprising a hollow body with an upperaccess opening closed by a displaceable cover, and a bag suspensionframe carried by a body wall movable between a closed position in whichthe frame is positioned below the access opening and an open position inwhich the frame is exposed for bag replacement, said frame having amovable frame element projecting away from the wall and the body havinginternal surfaces for deflecting said frame element upwardly duringclosing movement and downwardly during opening movement of the wall. 2.A refuse container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body wall ispivoted at its lower end such that the frame describes an arcuate pathin moving between the open and closed positions of the wall.
 3. A refusecontainer as claimed in claim 2, wherein said body wall has inwardlydirected side cheeks for guiding movement of the wall, and upper edgesof said side cheeks form part of said bag suspension frame and providesupport for said frame element pivotally mounted thereon.
 4. A refusecontainer as claimed in claim 3, wherein said edges have respectivenotches adjacent their outer ends for assisting bag retention.
 5. Arefuse container as claimed in claim 3, wherein said frame element isheld in a stable over-centre position when the body wall is open and inan under-centre position when the body wall is closed.